The Independents (7 page)

W
orld response was instantaneous,
as if
the global human population were
collectively holding its breath in disbelief
.
M
illions of people
literally stopped whatever they were doing, glued to the developing scene
on their television screens. The United States was in complete revolt.
At first, many people
hoped they
were
watching
yet another Hollywood disaste
r movie
, but it soon became clear that this was
real -
and live
.

About the only people who didn’t watch the ransacking of
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
were those who l
ived in cities that were
without electricity. Houston,
Atlanta,
and Cleveland were already burning and had
lost power days before
.

The
president
had been in the Oval O
ffice
that morning when two agents
burst in without warning. The largest, an ex-college football lineman, had physically lifted the POTUS over his shoulder and carried him to Marine One. The iconic image of th
at historical day
was of Marine One lifting off
the ground with two protesters hanging onto the skids. A Secret Service agent was leaning out the door with
his handgun aimed at the two men
, both
of whom
were killed when they fell over 40 feet onto the east lawn.
Newspapers all over the world printed that single frame, taken
from a city webcam used to promote tourism
for
the nation’s c
apital.
Within an hour, the White House was a looted, empty shell with thousands of bodies littering the grounds.

The reaction across Ame
rica was mostly one of shock, coupled with
a “hunker down” mentality. Some people
interpreted
the news
casts as a sign that
complete anarchy had taken hold
a
nd began
looting rampages. Others simply stayed at home and refused
to report to work or duty. America was exhausted by year
s
of economic hardship, massive unemployment and most recently, terrorist attacks. Those attacks had disabled part of her infrastructure and left so many dead in Chicago,
Boston,
and Los Ang
e
les,
those cities were still struggling just to bury their dead.

The “hunker down” mentality soon was replaced by “every man for
himself.”
Within a day, bedlam
erupted i
n thousands of cities and towns all across the country.
No one knew if the
president
had escaped alive. Even though
Marine One had safely transported the
president
to
Andrews Air Force base, the Secret Service would not let him go public with even a
simple statement until they were confident
he was
secure
. It was
only
after Air Force One
landed
at
Fort Knox
,
Kentucky
several hours later
,
that a statement was made clarifying that the
president
was alive and well. So shaken was the Service by the close call, that ever since, the chief executive was surrounded by
dozens o
f M1 Abra
m
s
Main Battle Tanks
and a large contingent of the 101
st
Airborne.
By the
time the
news
networks verified the source and content of the
president
’s statement
, it was too late. Almost every major American city was out of control.

Gas stations,
corner pharmacies, and
gro
cery
stores were immediately swamped by
an
unprecedented number of
customers
frustrated
with the shor
tage of available merchandise and
unbearably long
checkout lines
. The situation escalated as stockers and cashiers
deserted their posts
in order to take care of their own families
. Impatient
shoppers quickly lost hope in the ability of stores to keep control when thugs elected to snatch and grab, rather than wait and pay. Folks that h
ad never even
so much as rolled through a stop sign
turned into
desperate
looters
.
Fist
f
ights escalated
into gun battles
, and
hundreds lay bleeding or
dead within a few hours. Banks in almost every major American city experienced riots. The
branches
had no choice but to lock their doors
when the run
on cash
began
.
As the
long lines of
already frig
htened customers saw the banks’
doors being locked,
frantic
customers
became violent, desperate people
.

It wasn’t all complete chaos. Churches,
synagogues,
and communities initially banned together an
d attempted to organize. Labor u
nions, biker
clubs,
and even bu
sinesses held meetings in an attempt
to establish order. Some were successful
,
given they already had a leadership structure in place and a few resources at their disposal. Small town mayors and city councils all over the country tried their best to keep order
,
and many achieved promising results
. In the first few weeks after the White House had been overrun, it wasn’t uncommon for some people to believe they were better off. The late mortgage payment was no longer a conc
ern, past due taxes were scoffed
at, and a court date for
that speeding ticket was forgotten.

Rural communities fared the best. Folks
residing
outside of the major metropolitan areas
already knew how to live
self-sufficient
ly
b
efore the breakdown transpired
. Tending g
ardens, canning
seasonal vegetables
, hunting and bartering had all become common ways to “get by” during the rough economic times that the
country had been experiencing. Additionally, their
lower pop
ulation density prevented substantial drain on resources, s
uch as firewood, orchards, local
livestock,
and most importantly, water.

Because the downfa
ll occurred in early autumn, the eventual winter weather was devastating
.
Areas that typically coped well with snow and
sub-freezing temperatures
no longer commanded the basic resources for survival
. When the in
terconnected electrical grid
failed along the east coast, keeping warm became a daily struggle for millions of people. The combination of cold, hunger, fear and a vac
uum of leadership left the metro areas
even more
c
haotic
and often violent.    

Initially, the Pentagon
recommended an old cold war era plan that had been dusted off and hastily modified.
Originally created in the 1950
s and k
ept current until the late 1970
s, the overall strategy was to order various military commands to take control of key cities
.
The
president
approved the plan, and in
retrospect, this had been a mistake. The
military was almost one million
personnel smaller
,
and the population was 70 million people larger
than when the plan had been created
.
Additionally, t
he
military was not ready for
a nationwide deployment. National Guardsmen were called away from home right at a time when their families needed them the most.
Even r
egular Army units
usually
take weeks to
prepare
for deployment
,
and the logistics
of a mass, impromptu mission
were a nightmare. All of the military depended on civilian suppliers and
many of those businesses were no longer functioning. Food,
fuel
,
and critical spare parts deliveries were eithe
r delayed, or never arrived
at all.
 

Despite a heroic effort by all involved, it was still
eight
days before the first military
convoys
began to
parade
into the
40
largest American cities. By then, the police and fire departments were tattered at best, and non-existent in several
areas
. One
veteran Army officer, assigned to the Denver area
,
was overheard comparing the Mile High City to
Baghdad after the fall of Sadam.
“We expected the police, city service
s,
and fire departments to all be
functioning
.
But i
t was just like Iraq when we rolled in there. E
very cop, fireman, utility worker
,
and
city
manager
had
just vanished into thin air
.
”

In some
cities, the local government
kept control and maintained order by establishing coalitions with local churches and businesses. In Salt Lake City
,
for example, the Mormon Church banned together with the
city and state governments.
Governor
Pratt
of Utah was quick to call out the National Guard and integrate their resources into the command and control structure of local police and other first responders
. By the time the Army began to
enter
the city ten days
after Washington D.C. had become
a combat zone, they were neither
needed, nor welcomed. When the g
eneral
in command of
the Army division assi
gned to
that
region
met Governor Pratt and
the
m
ayor
of Salt Lake City
on the courthouse steps, the exchange was heated to say the
least. The g
eneral handed over
his orders
for the establishment of m
artial law
to the two leaders
.
I
n that docum
ent was a provision stating,
“The right of free assembly is
hereby suspended. N
o assembly of more than five people wi
ll be allowed without express permission and military presence
.”
When Sa
lt Lake’s mayor
asked for clarification, specifically
if that rule included worship services
, he
was
informed that indeed
it did. The mayor asked the g
eneral to
please remove his force
s from the city limits
,
and Governor Pratt
expanded the request to
include
the entire state.
Unfortunately, the g
eneral had his orders
and
wasn’t about to give in. C
ivil war practically broke out right then and there.

Every city was different, and the success or failure of the imposed martial law d
epended partially on the inherent
skills of the officers in charge and how they interacted with the community. The commanders on the ground who were mature and flexible often achieved better results than those who went strictly by the book.

Another factor was
the population,
diversity,
and
culture of the city being occupied.
A social scientist
could
have
made
an entire career
of
studying how Americans regrouped after the collapse.
Miami had a large Cuban-American population
,
and when things got bad, the city divided into racia
l segments.
In Orlando, it was by age, with the retirement communities banding together. Dallas broke down into east siders versus
north
siders. San
Francisco divided into three sections, gay, Asian and none of the above. Many cities and towns in the south returned to ra
cial divides of black and white;
although one officer in Mobil
e,
Alabama noted this w
as because of geographic separations
and didn’t appear racial in nature.